INDONESIA: The Threat of Civil War

To President Sukarno's white-pillared
presidential palace at Djakarta, Java came report after report of
revolt and separatist movements, from the northern tip of Sumatra on
the Indian Ocean to Borneo, the Celebes and Amboina, some 3,000 miles
away in the Banda Sea. There was a new outbreak in South Sumatra. It is
largely the reputation of Sukarno that holds the sprawling Republic of
Indonesia together, but what threatened to sever it last week was a
recent decision by Sukarno himself: to include Indonesia's Communists
in his government.

Ironically enough, it was the Communists themselves who seemed about to
destroy any chance...